The Canadian Journal of Plastic Surgery recently published study results that compare the physical characteristics of patients undergoing their first breast augmentation procedure, as well as details of their breast implant characteristics based on geographic location
The study used patient information from 100 consecutive breast augmentation cases performed in university settings at Kelowna (British Columbia), Loma Linda (California, USA) and Temple (Texas, USA).
According to results, the physicians who performed the study found that among breast augmentation patients in the three sampled geographic locations, most shared a similar age in their early to mid-30s. The youngest patients on average were in Loma Linda (32 years), followed closely by patients from Kelowna (33 years) and finally by patients from Temple (36 years).
Patients from each location were also apparently similar in height, although the exact findings were not published.
Among the differences discovered in the patients who participated in the study were variations in weight, body mass index (BMI) and breast implant volume.
Patients in Kelowna who had the lowest average BMI (20.8 kg/m²) had the greatest average implant volume (389 cc), whereas patients in Temple who had the greatest BMI on average (22.6 kg/m²) had the lowest average implant volume (335 cc). Patients in Loma Linda were in between, with an average BMI of 21.6 kg/m² and an average implant volume of 385 cc.
A positive linear correlation between BMI and implant volume was found in American breast augmentation patients, which could speculatively be because the greater a patient’s BMI, the greater their natural breast volume.
To review the study abstract, see The Canadian Journal of Plastic Surgery, Winter 2010, Volume 18, Issue 4: e 44-e 46.